Preakness Contenders

Still with just a maiden win to his credit, Tale of Verve was entered in the May 2 Kentucky Derby (G1) but scratched when he didn’t draw into the field off the also-eligible list.

The bay colt is a son of Tale of Ekati, winner of the 2008 Wood Memorial (G1) who finished fourth in the Derby and sixth in the Belmont Stakes (G1) for owner-breeder Charles Fipke and trainer Barclay Tagg.

Tale of Verve spent the fall of his 2-year-old season in Kentucky, running third in a pair of maiden special weight races, before moving with trainer Dallas Stewart’s string to Fair Grounds for the winter.

In New Orleans, Tale of Verve failed to hit the board in two more maiden races until running second March 5 going 1 1/16 miles. He finally tasted victory in his subsequent start, pulling away to win by two lengths as the favorite at 1 3/16 miles – the same distance as the Preakness Stakes (G1).

Past Performances

Jockey

Joel Rosario

Joel Rosario, 30, was a finalist for the Eclipse Award as top jockey for the second straight year in 2014 after winning 215 races and more than $21.5 million in purses including victories in the Belmont Stakes (G1) with Tonalist and Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1) with Bobby’s Kitten.

The previous year, Rosario won both the $10 million Dubai World Cup (G1) on Animal Kingdom and his first Kentucky Derby with Orb, and set a track record in claiming the Keeneland spring meet title.

Third aboard Creative Cause in his Preakness debut in 2012, Rosario was foruth with Orb in 2013 and second with Ride On Curlin in 2014. He moved his tack to the East Coast on a full-time basis in the summer of 2012 at Saratoga, finishing a solid fifth with 29 wins. He blossomed that winter at Gulfstream Park with 89 victories, second only to defending champion Javier Castellano.

He grew up on a farm in the Dominican Republic that had horses and donkeys and used horses for transportation. With permission from his family, he attended jockey school in his native country and after six months, at the age of 14, was already a licensed professional.

Rosario won four riding titles in the Dominican Republic and was second once before he came to the U.S. in 2006. He rode in Northern California for a year before moving south, and enjoyed a breakthrough season in 2009.

Rosario ended jockey Rafael Bejarano’s streak of six straight Southern California riding titles at Hollywood Park’s spring-summer meet that year, winning 79 races, and went on to take Del Mar’s meet title as well, with 55 victories, repeating as leading rider there in 2010 and 2011.

In 2008, Rosario picked up his first graded stakes win with Zappa in the Grade 2 San Pasquel, and the following year he rode Dancing in Silks to victory in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. He made his Triple Crown debut with Make Music for Me, who finished fourth in the 2010 Kentucky Derby.

Owner

One of the leading diamond excavators in the world, whose exploits are chronicled in the book, ‘Fire into Ice’ by Vernon Frolick, Charles Fipke was born in 1946 and lives in Kelowna, British Columbia.

In 1991 Fipke discovered a diamond mine in Canada, triggering a rush in the Northwest Territories that saw approximately 200 companies register claims to mine on 100,000 square miles of land. As founder of DiaMet Minerals, he established the first diamond mine in Canada, Ekati Diamond Mine. His discoveries have led Canada to become the third-leading diamond producer in the world.

Involved with horse racing since 1981, he bred and owned Tale of Ekati, named after the mine. The colt won the 2007 Futurity (G2) at Belmont Park, the 2008 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct, finished fourth in the Kentucky Derby and sixth in the Belmont Stakes in 2008. Tale of Ekati, trained by Barclay Tagg, also won the Cigar Mile (G1) and Jerome Handicap (G2).

Perfect Shirl, a Fipke-owned and bred daughter of Perfect Soul, won the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1) at odds of 28-1. Fipke won the $1 million Queen’s Plate – Canada’s version of the Kentucky Derby – in 2008 with Not Bourbon. He currently is the owner of Kel-Ex Development, a mine excavation and mineral services company.

Trainer

Dallas Stewart

No stranger to the Triple Crown series, Dallas Stewart has started three horses in the Preakness but none since Macho Again ran second to Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown 2008. Stewart also finished fourth with Dollar Bill in 1991 and eighth with Kimberlite Pipe in 1999.

A 56-year-old native of McComb, Miss., Dallas Steward rode in match races as a boy and worked as an exercise rider and valet in his teens at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans. He worked for 12 years in the stable of Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, helping condition star runners such as Lady’s Secret, Thunder Gulch and Serena’s Song.

Stewart took out his trainer’s license in 1985 and has won more than 700 races and $37 million in purses, claiming the Keeneland spring meet title in 2000. He has sent out horses to upset some of the sport’s biggest races, including Unbridled Elaine ($26.60) in the 2001 Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) and Lemons Forever ($96.20) in the 2006 Kentucky Oaks (G1).

Macho Again won the 2008 Jim Dandy (G2) and 2009 New Orleans Handicap (G2) and Stephen Foster (G1) for Stewart and owner West Point Thoroughbreds. Stewart’s most recent graded stakes victory came in the 2013 Adirondack (G2) with Designer Legs at Saratoga Race Course.

Stewart saddled the Kentucky Derby runner-up in back-to-back years, with Golden Soul (2013) and Commanding Curve (2014). He resides is Louisville, Ky. and New Orleans, where his house was badly damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.